“I Didn’t Have The Explosion To Play Press”

Greg Schiano and defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan have been battered by fans, Warren Sapp and various analysts for not using Darrelle Revis in true press coverage and for playing too much zone defense with their $1 million-per-game cornerback.

“What the hell are they doing?” is the typical rhetorical question.

Finally, during his weekly radio show tonight on the Buccaneers Radio Network on WDAE-AM 620, Revis explained in detail that his surgically repaired knee just hasn’t been healthy enough to revive the Revis Island of old. But the good news is he’s progressing well.

“I changed my game up last game. Instead of playing off, I started pressing,” Revis said. “You know, last game against Carolina against Steve Smith and it felt pretty good. Because you know my thing is, yes I can play off coverage, but at the same time, you know earlier in the year I didn’t have the explosion to play press and then the receiver would just run the [vertical] nine-route on me and I can be full-go, at full speed running. I didn’t have the stamina to do that play in and play out, especially playing press.

“I mean you get physical up there playing press coverage and then actually just running; that’s running full speed — you and the receiver. I didn’t have that yet. I’m starting to get that back, which is awesome because I like to be in receivers faces and try to put my hands on them and try to be physical with them.”

Revis detailed the changes in his training regimen that are returning his explosion.

“I feel pretty good right now. You know, the biggest thing, and you know I had a conversation with Coach Schiano a couple of weeks ago, was about strengthening my whole leg,” Revis said. “The hamstring, the quad, my calf as well, just strengthening it and getting that full explosion back is what we talked about. He presented it to [Bucs director of sport medicine] Todd [Toriscelli], and Todd has been doing a great job with me in the training room to get me back to where I have that explosion. But yeah, I’ve been feeling pretty good. I felt good the Carolina game, and I feel good this week in practice. I just got to keep on chopping at the wood. Eventually, I will get there. I do feel pretty good now, but you never know.

“The biggest thing is my knee hasn’t been swelling up. It’s been responding well. So I think that’s the big thing, the outcome, that it’s not been swelling.”

So there you have it. Mystery solved. Schiano and Sheridan are not complete buffoons.

Revis hasn’t been playing to his strength because he hasn’t had the strength.

Joe must wonder why Schiano and the Bucs didn’t just come out and spell this out publicly sooner. Either Schiano is a masochist (highly doubtful), or he just didn’t want to expose what could be competitive advantage for opposing teams.

Regardless, Joe’s glad this raging issue that has driven so much negativity toward the Bucs is put to rest — unless you want to ask why the Bucs are paying all that cash for a guy coming off major surgery.

40 Responses to ““I Didn’t Have The Explosion To Play Press””

This has been my suspicion all along….Revis is to noticeable not to use him properly….I just don’t think they wanted to make his situation available to the competition. And….I don’t think Revis is handing us some BS now.
Still many questions about coaching remain.
Roy Miller came out with some very positive statements about the coaching (including Schiano)….was asked point blank and he had positive reviews…..

If this is true, then I give a pass to Schiano and Sheridan on this one. The timing is a bit suspicious, but perhaps they didn’t want anyone to know he wasn’t full strength. I don’t, however give them a pass for their overall crap job of coaching this football team in 2013.

“unless you want to ask why the Bucs are paying all that cash for a guy coming off major surgery.”

Ha ha ha ha Joe. The entire time I was reading the article that’s all I kept thinking about. Funny how you ended it with my thoughts. Your a creative one.

Told you people in August that maybe they should have spread that money around throughout the secondary and shored up both sides of it with 2-3 decent DB’s instead of 1 superstar. Added more depth as well. There were DB’s out there in FA. Not ones that would sell tickets like Revis though. I’m telling ya. That is the new Glazer strategy. They are not stupid people. Bring in a couple of big name players and fans will buy tickets, who cares if they win as long as they sell season tickets. Culverhouse 2.0. The majority of fans see superstars and they think winning.

Dungy taught me one thing when it comes to FB. You can have all the talent in the NFL on your team and if your coach sucks, the talent won’t matter. The coach plays a VERY big roll in a winning team.

Raheem’s 10-6 confuses the hell out of me though. I know they were close games against under 500 teams, but still 10-6 with that crap talent they had on the team. Makes me question whether or not Rah should have stayed another year. A question I never thought would cross my mind.

You can still play man coverage without having to press all the time, and when Revis did most than not he succeeded. Schiano and Sheridan both suck and the Revis issue is not the most pressing one, how about running the never ending Rutgers stunts?

No surprise to me about Revis. I still think they’re horrible play callers. I want to like Schiano but someone is to blame for the poor performance on the field. I also think he gets a lot blame for things he has no control of. He said he doses not make the play calls but can over ride them if he thinks he needs to. We are 0-7. He needs to!

Ya I am not buying this. If this was the case why would he have been complaining about playing too much zone after week 3? Don’t tell me that report wasn’t accurate because even Schiano admitted the sit down happened.

This is just like him back tracking on the stuff he said after the game regarding believing in the coaching. “I don’t know.” Now he is back tracking saying he was just mad about the loss.

I compare his passion after the game to being drunk. The truth comes out under the influence of emotion or alcohol…

Haha like I said weeks ago. He’s not going to be the same this year. Neither is Davin so he should be cut some slack too. Next year they will be fine. Its just the typical time table for a torn knee. Adrian Peterson ruined it for any person coming off that injury. AP is the exception NOT the rule. The worst part is all the talking heads know this but none of them said anything. They just bashed him for it. As much as I dislike Schiano, I have to admit there definitely a media agenda with this guy. Its as bad as political media.

I agree with Captain Tim. I have always thought Dominic sucked. He’s the reason why we have no tight end he’s the reason we have no depth. He’s the reason why we were stuck with a crapy at best QB for the last four years and why were picking up crapy scraps off the waiver wire.

So you don’t think Schiano told him to say this.. Or Revis just being a “Buccaneer Man” by saying that to take heat off his coaches.. I mean I don’t think you would try more press man on a 4 day week? Screams saving coaches ass.. Not one ounce of logical reasoning there.

0-16 here come. I don’t like it. You don’t like it. Joe Doesn’t like it. We are Bucs fans. Suffer, suffer and just a sprinkle of more suffer on top. If this is not humbling to everyone on that team, it sure is humbling to me as a fan. It damn near hurts my brain to even think about it all now.

Sure I want wins and will root for wins, but I’m not expecting any.

In the meantime who are the Noles going to roll on this Saturday?
Oh that’s right the Canes. Time to prove that the Canes don’t belong anywhere near the top 10.

That was easy to figure out. Revis hasn’t been as fluid with his legs till you noticed he was playing with a lot more confidence in the Carolina game. I’m not taking the side of the coaches here, but it was bluntly obvious. I think we’re all just tired of losing and feel the need to point fingers. It comes awful easy when your team is losing the way our’s is. Draft isn’t in my sights….. I’m hoping we win out the rest of the season. Will it happen? I doubt it! But I can always hope

Unless you are in the meeting room(s)… shut your mouth and stop speculating. These talking heads, including HOF Sapp, are no better than uninformed high school parents that stir the pot. Don’t be a sap!

I really want to believe the same too. Most fans have said they respect Revis, so do I. I think other things will come out too that Schiano wasn’t the direct leak to the media on Freeman, that he may have found Tampa a QB upgrade, and that he’s not the tyrant that media and some disgruntled ex-players want to paint him as. Still…wins and losses are the barometer, so he gets no free pass for the team’s record (even though it has been a season where just about anything that can go wrong has).

Todd toriscelli…that’s the guy all you finger pointers should be pointing toward. Seems like revis is. Just look at that photo… It was clear that revis was out of shape and not ready to play his game. But my hats off to revis. He’s played well and has proven to be a true pro, and I don’t think it’ll be long before the real island is back.

this defense still doesnt get a pass……where’s the defense from the first three weeks? if revis is getting better it means he was further away from 100% week 1 then week 8

why should they get a pass for being 0-7, our defense was worse last year. what happened to the number 1 rush defense, you dont get a pass for all those stupid run stunts they run, ok so your not misusing revis but they’re still misusing geraldini if warren sapp says it then im gonna believe what our former superbowl players say and who better than sapp, brooks, simeon rice, steve white, booger mcfarland these men know all about pass rush and theirs is stupid so no you dont get a pass for one player not playing press because even though he hasnt been on revis island

REVIS HAS BEEN OUR BEST CORNERBACK ALL YEAR so it’s not like he’s a liability…..im glad they didnt use that crap for an excuse, im glad revis is the one who said it because im tired of all the excuses from schiano and sheridan